Northern San Juan
Quick reportJeff Davis · Jan 5, 2026 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Intermittent snow showers with moderate south and southwest wind. Around 2" of snow fell throughout the day. Blue sky around 3pm.
Snowpack
It was surprising how stiff the recent snow became after Sunday's wind event. Digging on a northeast-facing slope prone to wind-loading on the Trico ridge, the snowpack is looking more and more like a classic continental snowpack that we find year after year in the San Juans. Well, the rain crust from late December is special, but after a slow start, we now have multiple hard layers of snow over a softer, faceted snow both in the middle and at the bottom of the snowpack. This setup continues to feel terrain-specific and spotty, but requires more in-depth terrain assessment than what we were dealing with in December 2025. The primary layers of concern are the faceted snow above the holiday crust, which was buried on January 1st and 2nd, and the weak snow near the ground. Extended column test produced propagating failures on both of these layers, ECTP13 on the basal facets and ECTP 22 on the facets above the crust. There are also facets below the crust, but they were not highlighted in snowpack tests. During the most recent avalanche cycle, all the reported avalanches failed above the crust; however, basal weakness is not something to overlook.
Avalanche
A small area of wind-drifted snow triggered at the entrance of northeast-facing slopes near the treeline.